Talk:United Kingdom general election, 1931
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[edit] Gains/Losses
The modern practice is to ignore changes in both by-elections and sitting MPs alleigances and show the difference from the previous general election (or notional results where there were boundary changes). However the old practice was to regard an MP changing party during the Parliament and holding the seat in their new colours as a "hold". (Complicating things further some MPs, including all the Independent Liberals elected here, changed party after the dissolution and The Times guide seems to regard those as gains.)
Currently the table seems to have a mix - National Labour is shown in the new format with 13 gains, whilst the Liberals and Liberal Nationals are shown in the old format with both having sitting MPs. I think we sould go with the modern convention, although I can see a case for using the old one, but this tables and other elections need a single format to be workable. Timrollpickering 21:12, 4 March 2007 (UTC)
Accepting the points you make about showing gains and losses from the previous general election, the case for not doing so in this instance is to give a far clearer indication of how the particular parties performed. I can understand a case for consistency from one election to the next. To accomodate such a desire, perhaps the way forward would be to ignore changes from by-elections but not to ignore changes in description. (Graemp 12:27, 5 March 2007 (UTC))
